A Seaweed-Based Polymer Graft for Treating Diabetes, Image 2

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Submitted by Edmond Zaia, Omar Khan, and Arturo Vegas of the Anderson Lab at the Koch Institute

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"This is a picture of a new biomaterial we have developed to help treat patients with type 1 diabetes. These materials can protect pancreatic stem cells during transplantation. We hope to use this to allow diabetic patients to receive insulin-producing cells. This material is specially designed to be compatible with the human body, which we accomplish by grafting a seaweed-based polymer called alginate onto the surface. In this image, you can see the material surface is porous to allow for the transport of insulin through the material."